The landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 represents a defining moment, not only for Australia and New Zealand, but also for Turkey. However a detailed account of the landing from the Turkish perspective has yet to be published in English despite the 100 years that has elapsed since the first ANZACs scrambled ashore. Descriptions of the Ottoman forces such as the composition of units, the men who commanded them, their weapons, capabilities and reactions to the ANZAC invasion have generally remained undocumented or described in piecemeal fashion based on secondary sources. The lack of a Turkish perspective has made it almost impossible to construct a balanced account of the events of that fateful April day. The Ottoman Defence against the Anzac Landing: 25 April 1915 seeks to redress this imbalance, portraying the Ottoman experience based on previously unpublished Ottoman and Turkish sources. This meticulously researched volume describes the Ottoman Army in fascinating detail from its order of battle, unit structure and composition, training and doctrine to the weapons used against the ANZACs. Using Ottoman military documents, regimental war diaries, personal accounts and memoirs, author Mesut Uyar describes the unfolding campaign, unravelling its complexity and resolving many of the questions that have dogged accounts for a century. This valuable chronicle will enhance readers’ understanding of the Ottoman war machine, its strengths and weaknesses and why it proved so successful in containing the Allied invasion. Detailed maps and photographs published for the first time add clarity and portray many of the men the ANZACs referred to with grudging respect as ‘Johnny Turk’.

The Ottoman Army had a significant effect on the history of the modern world and particularly on that of the Middle East and Europe. This study, written by a Turkish and an American scholar, is a revision and corrective to western accounts because it is based on Turkish interpretations, rather than European interpretations, of events. As the world's dominant military machine from 1300 to the mid-1700's, the Ottoman Army led the way in military institutions, organizational structures, technology, and tactics. In decline thereafter, it nevertheless remained a considerable force to be counted in the balance of power through 1918. From its nomadic origins, it underwent revolutions in military affairs as well as several transformations which enabled it to compete on favorable terms with the best of armies of the day. This study tracks the growth of the Ottoman Army as a professional institution from the perspective of the Ottomans themselves, by using previously untapped Ottoman source materials. Additionally, the impact of important commanders and the role of politics, as these affected the army, are examined. The study concludes with the Ottoman legacy and its effect on the Republic and modern Turkish Army. This is a study survey that combines an introductory view of this subject with fresh and original reference-level information. Divided into distinct periods, Uyar and Erickson open with a brief overview of the establishment of the Ottoman Empire and the military systems that shaped the early military patterns. The Ottoman army emerged forcefully in 1453 during the siege of Constantinople and became a dominant social and political force for nearly two hundred years following Mehmed's capture of the city. When the army began to show signs of decay during the mid-seventeenth century, successive Sultans actively sought to transform the institution that protected their power. The reforms and transformations that began frist in 1606successfully preserved the army until the outbreak of the Ottoman-Russian War in 1876. Though the war was brief, its impact was enormous as nationalistic and republican strains placed increasing pressure on the Sultan and his army until, finally, in 1918, those strains proved too great to overcome. By 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk emerged as the leader of a unified national state ruled by a new National Parliament. As Uyar and Erickson demonstrate, the old army of the Sultan had become the army of the Republic, symbolizing the transformation of a dying empire to the new Turkish state make clear that throughout much of its existence, the Ottoman Army was an effective fighting force with professional military institutions and organizational structures.

The Landing at ANZAC, 1915 challenges many of the cherished myths of the most celebrated battle in Australian and New Zealand history – myths that have endured for almost a century. Told from both the ANZAC and Turkish perspectives, this meticulously researched account questions several of the claims of Charles Bean’s magisterial and much-quoted Australian official history and presents a fresh examination of the evidence from a range of participants. The Landing at ANZAC, 1915 reaches a carefully argued conclusion in which Roberts draws together the threads of his analysis delivering some startling findings. But the author’s interest extends beyond the simple debunking of hallowed myths, and he produces a number of lessons from the armies of today. This is a book that pulls the Gallipoli campaign into the modern era and provides a compelling argument for its continuing relevance. In short, today’s armies must never forget the lessons of Gallipoli.

The Great War confronted Australia’s fledgling field and garrison artillery forces with a seemingly insurmountable challenge: to rapidly raise, prepare, deploy and engage in history’s most lethal war to date. By 1915, the Australian artillery entered into a bloody contest of learning and adaptation against resourceful and resolute opponents, where the stakes would be measured in thousands of soldiers’ lives. Far from popularly-held views of the Great War as one of stalemate and stagnation, Clash of the Gods of War: Australian Artillery and the Firepower Lessons of the Great War reveals a dynamic and rapidly evolving battle-scape, as artillery planners on each side sought to combine innovative concepts, technology and tactics into victory. The book draws on an unparalleled array of perspectives on artillery and firepower, presented by Australian and international experts and practitioners over four years during the Firepower: Lessons from the Great War seminar series, commemorating the Centenary of Anzac. From Anzac Cove to the Hindenburg Line, Clash of the Gods of War tells a gripping Australian story of the Great War through the lens of artillery – the most lethal and influential arm of the war – and considers the legacy that its evolutionary journey holds for warfare today.

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Reconstruction and analysis of the events leading to the Gallipoli landing. Discusses the experiences of the men involved as well as the the planning and operational aspects using previously unstudied documents, as well as private papers as sources. Includes references, additional sources and an index. The author is a writer and historian whose previous publications include a collection of the writings of C E W Bean and 'Haig's Command: A reassessment'.

In early August 1915, after months of stalemate in the trenches on Gallipoli, British and Dominion troops launched a series of assaults in an all-out attempt to break the deadlock and achieve a decisive victory. The ‘August offensive’ resulted in heartbreaking failure and costly losses on both sides. Many of the sites of the bloody struggle became famous names: Lone Pine, the Nek, Chunuk Bair, Hill 60, Suvla Bay. Debate has continued to the present day over the strategy and planning, the real or illusory opportunities for success, and the causes of failure in what became the last throw of the dice for the Allies. Some argue that these costly attacks were a lost opportunity; others maintain that the outcomes were simply inevitable.This new book about the Gallipoli battles arises out of a major international conference at the Australian War Memorial in 2010 to mark the 95th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. The conference drew leading military historians from around the world to bring multi-national viewpoints to the many intriguing questions still debated about Gallipoli. Keynote speaker, Professor Robin Prior of the University of Adelaide, author of Gallipoli: the end of the myth (2009), led a range of international authorities from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Germany, India and Turkey to present their most recent research findings. The result was significant: never before had such a range of views been presented, with fresh German and Turkish perspectives offered alongside those of British and Australasian historians. For the resulting book, the papers have been edited and the text has been augmented with soldiers’ letters and diary accounts, as well as a large number of photographs and maps.